Friday, 29 Feb 2008
lawyers learn language skills
Caroline Maher comments for business7
Ask the average person what comes to mind when they think of lawyers and clear, concise, easy to understand language is unlikely to top any list.
In fact, as far as the average punter is concerned “plain English” is something we lawyers use only when discussing aviation law.
Even I, a trainee lawyer, had a vague sense that after years of expensive study the expectation was to communicate in something a little grander than Walter Scott or perhaps even Proust at their best! It seems I was wrong. Shortly after commencing my traineeship with CCW, the commercial law firm based in Edinburgh and Fife, my colleagues and I were sent on a course run by the Plain English campaign. The content of the course, and hopefully the results will be black and white.
The Plain English campaign is designed to increase the use of “plain” English as a tool to more effective written communication, without any sacrifice to the quality, or level of legal expertise. There is little doubt that after attending the course I have developed a fresh perspective on how best to use the written word to communicate. A skill I am reliably informed by more senior colleagues will be of great use to me.
The case for the prosecution has it that we lawyers tend to favour jargon and abbreviations, join long and complex ideas together and adopt an overly formal tone. One glance at a standard form share purchase agreement and I would tend to agree.
What we should be striving for is a brand of English that is precise, unambiguous, and clear of jargon and Latin - terra incognita for many, if you will.
After slogging through a selection of passages written in plain-awful English, and looking at how to rectify them, I got a better idea of just how frustrating such language can be. Applying a few straightforward rules can make a world of difference. Some of the truly awful cardinal sins, that even in my short career I have witnessed, are no more than bad habits – habits that can be kicked if we make the effort.
A simple starting point impressed upon us was that long, muddy passages covering multiple points often work better as a list of bullet points. Swallowing a legal dictionary has made me a scrabble opponent to fear, but regurgitating that knowledge on the page, we were told, is unnecessary and alienating, with smaller words less likely to create headaches for those reading the documents.
Tone is also important, and something as simple as “I have enclosed…” rather than “Please find enclosed…” apparently sets an altogether more relaxed mood. Simple and more personal also helps, so just writing “you” or “we” can save a lot of structural wrestling, particularly in long, repetitive documents.
Short sentences, containing one idea, are to be used whenever possible. This has the added advantage of not having to worry about unleashing colons and semicolons in the right places. The course concluded with us being given the “top five” rules for “Plain English” and better written communication skills:
- use active verbs instead of passive ones; o use a good average sentence length;
- use everyday words;
- give information in a logical order;
- use lists and bullet points; and
- think of your audience.
It seems the key is to think of the audience. If the average client has to Google every second word, or slowly re-read passages aloud as they wait for the penny to drop, it is not going to instil overly warm feelings in the reader.
Of all the difficulties facing the average trainee solicitor, and for that matter the average lawyer, clear, simple and effective writing is by comparison not rocket science. It doesn’t require a Hemingway-esque dedication to sweating over lean, mean sentences and it would seem that when we lawyers reach for those Dictaphones more of us should be bearing in mind that where English is concerned, plain is beautiful.